We Americans are progress junkies, as I’ve written many times. We believe that tomorrow ought to be better than today, just as today was better than yesterday. This optimism, in part, defines us as a people. We assume that progress is the natural order of things. Problems are meant to be solved. History is an upward curve of well-being. But ...

Alphabet Inc, the parent of digital-search giant Google, is facing one of the most difficult internet ad-spending markets in its history. The company’s recent actions signal it is taking the prospect of a downturn seriously. Alphabet reported March-quarter sales results that beat Wall Street estimates. The company posted first-quarter revenue ex-traffic acquisition costs of $33.7 billion, up 14% from a ...

How much more calamity can East Africa take? Already struggling with the twin crises of the coronavirus pandemic and a Biblical scourge of locusts, the region is now being lashed by exceptionally heavy rainfall, with floods that threaten life and livelihood from Ethiopia to Tanzania, and all parts in between. For the continent’s most economically vibrant region, the trifecta of ...